Brewing Guide
WE’RE NOT TEA SNOBS, WE PROMISE
There’s no right or wrong way to brew or drink tea. But like all other drinks, there are ways to enhance the experience. Not unlike chilling your beers, or letting your wine breathe. We recommend the following, in no particular order, to bring out the best in your tea:
1) Avoid using scalding water. In general, the less processed the teas - white or green varietals, the lower the water temperature required to best bring out the flavours. We recommend starting at 75° water for white or green teas, 80-85° water for oolongs and finally 85-95° for red teas as the starting point. Explore and experiment to your preference. You can also cold brew by placing the tea in cold water and letting chill for 12-24 hours in the fridge.
2) Let it swim. Avoid packing your leaves into tight infusers. Giving them room to circulate will help the leaves rehydrate, unfurl fully and more efficiently impart their flavour. We recommend 4 grams of tea to about 250mL of water. You’ll know it’s ready when most or all of the leaves have sunk to the bottom, usually 4-5 minutes. Smaller vessels will require less brew time.
3) Decant & Top It Up. It’s best to decant your freshly brewed tea. The leaves can then be infused several times again. Just let it sit a little longer with each successive brew. And like smelling the cork from a wine bottle, the aroma of the brew is highly concentrated on the freshly steamed leaves which, to avoid scalding yourself, can be smelled from the lid of your tea vessel.
There’s no right or wrong way to brew or drink tea. But like all other drinks, there are ways to enhance the experience. Not unlike chilling your beers, or letting your wine breathe. We recommend the following, in no particular order, to bring out the best in your tea:
1) Avoid using scalding water. In general, the less processed the teas - white or green varietals, the lower the water temperature required to best bring out the flavours. We recommend starting at 75° water for white or green teas, 80-85° water for oolongs and finally 85-95° for red teas as the starting point. Explore and experiment to your preference. You can also cold brew by placing the tea in cold water and letting chill for 12-24 hours in the fridge.
2) Let it swim. Avoid packing your leaves into tight infusers. Giving them room to circulate will help the leaves rehydrate, unfurl fully and more efficiently impart their flavour. We recommend 4 grams of tea to about 250mL of water. You’ll know it’s ready when most or all of the leaves have sunk to the bottom, usually 4-5 minutes. Smaller vessels will require less brew time.
3) Decant & Top It Up. It’s best to decant your freshly brewed tea. The leaves can then be infused several times again. Just let it sit a little longer with each successive brew. And like smelling the cork from a wine bottle, the aroma of the brew is highly concentrated on the freshly steamed leaves which, to avoid scalding yourself, can be smelled from the lid of your tea vessel.